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Trails in the Sky the 3rd |OT| Time's the Charm

The previous two pages sum up my excitement, but it's just a shame I'm still in finals season and have some projects to finish also. Maybe I can squeak in two or so hours a day since I've got my schedule under control; I'll be putting off my first run of Cold Steel I to beat this, too.

I want to post fanarts because reasons.
Third image actually comes from a Falcom official artist (the one who also did the Schera-and-Olivier-in-a-bar-drinking wallpaper).

Is there a comprehensive summary/synopsis of FC and SC available anywhere? Been a while since I've played them and my memory's fuzzy on a lot of the plot aspects. Same for CS...
Check these useful LPs for FC and SC, though I'd advise you skim the FC LP since it's based on the old PSP version with a worse translation and edit job vs. PC.
 

Jolkien

Member
So PC only and no PS4 or Vita?? That sucks, but will play on PC

The PSP is more than dead...Xseed is not exactly rolling in money to just bleed money on a version very little would ever play.

I guess they could bring the evolution version of the game someday but I heard these port came with their some problem and balance issues.
 
I've also got a second run of FC (on Hard) at Final Chapter right now, but I'll pause that as well. Just not enough Kiseki fun for me these days.

So PC only and no PS4 or Vita?? That sucks, but will play on PC
It might be possible to extract the English text and hack it into the PSP version with a lot of work, but I can't see XSEED fixing up that port since Falcom's returned their PSP dev kits and the commercial stakes are too high. They only managed to get Trails SC out for PSP because Falcom still had those tools and XSEED needed to pay due diligence for long-time fans kept waiting. FC/SC/3rd Evo are out of the picture entirely because of exorbitant licensing costs between three different companies (not including Falcom), and no one's made a PS4 port of the Sky trilogy yet. So PC's the best option for now.
 

Aeana

Member
I played the first few hours and Im not sure I like it. Feels like it has a lot more dialogue than previous games with combat taking a backseat. I dont care about the narrative in these games much, but its especially weird in this one.

That's not how I'd describe it at all. There's way more combat in 3rd than the other Sky games.
 

Fancolors

Member
Hoooo, finally I can discuss this game with people. I played a Korean translation years ago and, while very different from the other two, this is very much worth your time.

And please, buy this so we can get the Crossville games.
 

Psxphile

Member
Wow, this thread is early.

I hadn't noticed until Xseed's twitter mentioned it but their Facebook account has been updating all April with tidbits about The 3rd's localization process: link


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Any bundles with Part 1+2? Started the first on PSP but only played for 10 hours and wantes to restart the whole trilogy on the big screen (well, PC screen).
 

Ascheroth

Member
There's no way I'm going to finish SC any time soon, but it's good to know that I still have this waiting.
And Cold Steel in Summer!
Any bundles with Part 1+2? Started the first on PSP but only played for 10 hours and wantes to restart the whole trilogy on the big screen (well, PC screen).
Xseed said they'd probably make a trilogy bundle, but not at release.
I think FC and SC could get a discount on 3rd release though.
 

Eumi

Member
So I heard this game is harder than the first two. As someone who struggled with those on normal, is easy the way to go if I just want story?
 
It's so amazing the Sky trilogy has now been completely released in the west. A lot of hardship to get here, but XSEED stuck with it, and now Trails is arguably their marquee series.

I'm hoping the next set of miracles can be Zero and Ao getting a western release, but for now, this is a huge accomplishment. Kudos to that.
 

Famassu

Member
Is there a comprehensive summary/synopsis of FC and SC available anywhere? Been a while since I've played them and my memory's fuzzy on a lot of the plot aspects. Same for CS...
There's a text + image based Let's play for both games.

https://lparchive.org/The-Legend-of-Heroes-Trails-in-the-Sky/

It even has links to whatever song is playing in the background at any given situation :p I found that a good way to re-experience the story of FC before SC when I didn't have time to actually play the first game again.
 

EricB

Member
Pumped this is finally coming, but no portable version means I'll probably never have the chance to play it for any significant amount of time (I'll still buy it Day 1 and hope for the fans to do their work).

I'm actually glad this one is different from the others. Trails has always been a series I find more attractive from a distance. I own them all—twice over for FC and SC (PSP and PC), and I even picked up the EVO versions of Ao and Zero in the hopes that I will one day be able to play them somehow. I've completed both FC and SC, but never really felt either game rose to the level of the greats in the genre. The worst thing to me is the music, which I find to be mediocre at the best of times, and downright annoying at the worst of times. For reference, my favorite RPG series' are Dragon Quest and Suikoden and I would estimate that over half of the RPGs I have played to completion are Dragon Quest games.
Still, something has kept me interested in this series—it might be my love of Falcom in general (love love love Ys), or the art style which I have always found charming.
Anyway, it nevertheless makes me really happy that this is coming out, and I am seriously considering picking up a GPDWin just so I can play this on my commute like I did FC and SC.
 

Shahed

Member
I still can't believe this is actually happening. This is one of the games I've always just assumed I'd never be able to share with my English-speaking friends. I love it so much; by far my favorite game in the series, and one of my favorites RPGs ever.

It'll be interesting to see how people respond to it. I expect it won't click for many people.

It's just very different from any other game in the series. That difference will be embraced by some and not by others.

While it will be some time before I get around to it, at a guess I'm gonna say I'll be one of those who won't like it as much. Correct me if I'm wrong, but frok the little I've heard of it, thie game seems to focus more on the dungeon crawling aspect and lessens on the sense of exploration and adventure. And that the narrative is more backstory wnd lore focused, with setting up future events and foreshadowing more prevalent than an actual contained story for this particular game. Seeing all these playable characters also puts me in Cold Steel syndrome of having far too big a cast of characters to choose from. I've always preferred a more condensed cire and intimate group of people to focus on. That's not to say what I've mentioned is an inherent weakness of the game, just personal preference. Like I said, correct me if I'm wrong!

I'll still get and enjoy it though. Just assuming maybe not as much as others.
 

theofficefan99

Junior Member
I can use a PS4 controller for this game right? (Sorry, I've never played a game on Steam before! Currently playing FC, Chapter 2, on my PSP)
 
I still can't believe this is actually happening. This is one of the games I've always just assumed I'd never be able to share with my English-speaking friends. I love it so much; by far my favorite game in the series, and one of my favorites RPGs ever.

Me too. I always assumed we got the first two and that's it. The 3rd coming to the West, localized by people who love the series, that's just a dream come true.

I was looking at achievement statistics for SC earlier today and noticed only 35% of all owners completed the game. SC itself has sold only 40k copies, so yeah, I don't expect this to light the world on fire, but I'll support it all the same.

It was the grandioze farewell to a great portible system that the PSP was, I guess lots of people got it for that platform (I know I did). I double dipped FC on PSP and PC though.
 

guybrushfreeman

Unconfirmed Member
I'm so ready! Already finished FC and SC so I'll be one of the people jumping into this the moment it launches. I'm so happy these all got translated. It wasn't that long ago they were talked about as a dream project around here
 

aravuus

Member
I'm not particularly excited to play the game, but buying it to support the localization efforts etc etc. I'll probably check it out later. Hope I'll like it more than SC and CS2.
 

UberTag

Member
With my notorious backlog I seldom ever get to play a new game alongside GAF... but Trails the 3rd is something I'm making an exception for.
I'm dropping everything for this bad boy and diving in straight away. And, once I'm finished, I hope to have the impetus to resume my Cold Steel I playthrough that stalled out last summer.
 

Ascheroth

Member
Ok, I think I need to do this for FC so I actually finish it some day. I really like that game but always felt like I'd rather cheat my way through battles somehow. I think I was actually kinda close to the end...

Note that the thread in question only talks about using a speedhack to, well, speed up combat, not actually cheating it. (Which is totally possible as well though.)
 
I guess I have to go back and finish SC now. I was a couple of hours from the end when I suddenly and spontaneously got burnt out.

Still one of the very best JRPG series for WRPG fans, though.
 
Note that the thread in question only talks about using a speedhack to, well, speed up combat, not actually cheating it. (Which is totally possible as well though.)

Yeah that's fine. I didn't find it particularly difficult, just tedious. I always used to think that if I didn't have to fight normal battles in that game to be strong enough for the bosses then I would enjoy it a lot more but speeding up the fights is the next best thing.
 
You aren't alone

The quality level of the writing and characters is a significant downgrade from the Sky series

Im not sure what happened

the gain in popularity often makes developpers tone down the writing and make it more simple to reach a wider audience.... sadly that's often the case!

I still loved the game, the story that unfold in cold steel 2 is really intriguing and the world building is still amazingly well done! But yeah the characters aren't as interesting and the story isn't as dark as the first serie (can't judge on zero and ao, didn't play them, hope they will be next)
 

Durante

Member
Note that the thread in question only talks about using a speedhack to, well, speed up combat, not actually cheating it. (Which is totally possible as well though.)
True.

Personally, I happen to think that TitS' combat system is actually really good (few JRPGs make me think as much as SC on hard), it's just far too slow by default.

Wow, this thread is early.

I hadn't noticed until Xseed's twitter mentioned it but their Facebook account has been updating all April with tidbits about The 3rd's localization process: link
Neat that they got the high-res assets!
(Unlike some companies who don't even use the high-res assets they already have and which are already integrated in other versions of a game :()
 
I felt like bosses in SC had a lot more HP relative to FC bosses and it dragged some of them out, but didn't really add to the difficulty in most cases. Just longer battles, especially in the earlier chapters when your options are more limited.

There are some cases of multiple forms or consecutive battles in SC but they are a minority.

The combat is really slow in the Trails games. Even the most simple enemies take too long to kill after you've gained several levels. I really didn't have any trouble with the bosses until the final boss. That pissed me off.
 
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